


There's Blood On My Hands

by orphan_account



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: AU, Assassin AU, Low key abduction, M/M, Major Character Injury, More relationships to come, i seek validation, more tags to be added as I go along, please read this, the first chapter is a bit shitty oops
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-03
Updated: 2016-09-15
Packaged: 2018-07-19 22:00:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 17,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7379032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He spun round, fully expecting to see a terrifying face looming over him. Instead he saw tufts of red hair, and he had to look down to see the person's face. An innocent, boyish looking face that couldn't be more than fourteen, but with the right clothes could be mistaken for eleven. He definitely shouldn't be allowed in the club.<br/>He laughed.<br/>"That look right there? That's why they call me the decoy."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I guess at the minute I'm just gauging reactions to this, it's going to be a pretty major project- I don't want to do it if I'm not going to get any readers. Also, I finish school in the next couple weeks so if people want me to continue updates will be more frequent after next week or so.

He stood in the shadow of the building. When he looked up at it, it blended in with the rest of the Tokyo skyline, at least thirty stories tall, made out of tinted glass that gave a certain level of anonymity to it. He checked his watch, he was early. He felt the note screwed up on in a ball in his hand. He didn't need to read to know he was at the right building. He knew the note off by heart- he'd read it over a hundred times.

_"Report to the building marked on the map attached at 1800 hours tomorrow. Go to the fourteenth floor and state your name. Wear civilian clothes and do not draw attention to yourself. Do not tell anyone where you are going. If you are to inform anyone of this note, there will be consequences."_

That was all it said. Watermarked by the Japanese Ministry of Defence.  
It had surprised him to say the least. The military gave plenty of strange orders, but this seemed straight out of an action movie. He didn't really want to go into the building, the note itself made him uncomfortable. But there was never really an option in the military to disobey orders- especially when he didn't know what it was about yet. But being called into Toyko on only a day's notice couldn't be good news.

He took a deep breath to steady himself and entered the lobby as he exhaled. The lobby of the building was very ordinary, bustling businessmen carrying briefcases speed walking across the floor. A rotund bald man in a suit shamelessly flirting with the young receptionist. He spotted a silver elevator at the far end of the open room. He walked towards it, carefully regulating his footsteps so that he was neither walking too fast or too slow to earn more than a second glance. Very few people appreciate how hard it is to be forgotten by strangers. To become invisible.

He stepped into the elevator, and he checks his watch as the doors shut, leaving him alone in the elevator with a woman. She watched him the whole time they were there, and he tried not to flinch under her calculating eyes. She got out on the sixth floor with one last glance back at him. He had no reason to be nervous, and for the moment he had nothing to hide. But he couldn't help the way his skin prickles the moment anyone looked in his direction.

Time seemed to slow as the silver doors slid open revealing a floor very different to the lobby and the one the woman had gotten out at, where those floors were grey and modern, the fourteenth floor had mahogany paneling where the lifts opened put into a narrow corridor. He walked down it toward the desk at the end. A blonde woman sat at it, and she was watching him approach her desk.  
"Kageyama Tobio?"  
"Yes"  
"Sit"

He sat on the single chair opposite the window and the woman who had now turned back to her computer screen. He clenched and unclenched his fist, desperately trying to calm his nerves. He seemed to be there for an eternity, watching the second hand on the clock when he heard the woman the desk say-

"Kageyama? Door on your right."

He got up on shaking legs and walked the few feet to the door. He looked at it, like the door was an enemy that needed to be defeated. Did he knock? Did he just go in? He wiped his hands on his jeans, his train of thought interrupted by the woman at the desk.

"Go in" she said, a hint of impatience showing through her indifferent voice.  
He nodded, hand twisting the door knob as he peeked his head round the door.

Inside was a small office, containing a filing cabinet and a large desk. A man sat at the desk, and even if Kageyama hadn't been gay, he'd find it hard to believe he wouldn't find the man attractive. Even sitting down he could tell the man was tall and athletic, with slightly wavy brown hair that framed his perfect face just so.

"I'm Oikawa Tooru"

Oikawa surveyed Kageyama as he sat in front of him. His posture and face didn't give any of his emotions away, which wasn't surprising given Kageyama was military. He was aware that Kageyama was analysising him too, and he could tell that he was surveying the room too. The military did that to a person. You could always tell a soldier by the eyes. Not necessarily eyes that had seen the horrors of war, shocked, pained eyes, but eyes that found an escape route in every situation. Analysed every person, every room, eyes that trusted no one.

The eyes of an assassin.

"So. You joined the army at 18. Is that correct?"  
"Yes?"  
"And you joined despite a promise of a professional volleyball career. Honourable. But when training started it turned out you simply lacked the skills of a foot soldier. They almost sent you away?"  
"Yes?" Kageyama said, his voice turning into a hiss.  
"But then they let you shoot. At first you missed the target completely, but on the second shot you hit the target dead on. By the end of the day you could hit a moving target a few hundred metres away and you haven't missed a shot since."  
"I haven't, but I don't-"  
"They used you as a sniper. The most valuable asset to them, able to take out any threat before it reached the ranks. No one passed you if you didn't want them too. Everything in your scope was your domain, your control. They started calling you the king"

He'd never liked that name. He didn't even like being a sniper. He'd come to accept it, that it was his job and the majority of the people he killed would have killed him. But not all. He didn't want to be celebrated for what he did. He knew that every one he gunned down had a family and that never sat well with him.

"Why are you telling me this. I know everything that happened-"

Oikawa feigned a smile.  
"It's called social skills Kageyama- kun. Clearly, you have no concept of this, so I'll skip to it. We want you to use your skills as a sniper- outside the war zone"  
"I don't understand"  
"Bad people don't just exist in wars. They exist on the streets and they need to be stopped-"

"You want be to be an assassin"  
"In the basic sense of the word- yes."  
"That's completely illegal"  
"No. You'd be working for the government. Officially, the government doesn't have assassins, but of course we do. It's underhanded, yes. But you'll never win by playing fair when the other side is cheating."  
"I suppose"

Oikawa made it sound like it was just a job, something that needed to be done. And in a way he was right, but the though gave him a bad taste in his mouth.

"Listen; all we're asking is that you train with a professional, and then you can always back out"  
"You and I both know there's no backing out"  
"Then what makes you so sure you can back out now?"  
He posed the question sweetly, like he was genuinely interested. But he knew that voice and he'd met people like Oikawa before. But Oikawa had just said what he had somehow forgotten, you never backed out in underhanded operations. The people controlling them were above the law, and refusing to join them often led to mysterious disappearances.

He closed his eyes and sighed.  
"Fine"

Oikawa feigned another smile at him and it made Kageyama feel sick to his stomach. He really didn't like this guy.

"I've got it all arranged. I'll give you the address of the nightclub where you'll meet him, yes?"  
"A club? Surely that's a bit busy for something like this?"  
"You should know that busy places are sometimes the best places for things like this. No one will hear you, it'll be too loud, and even if they did- it's dark and crowded. Plus most people there will be tanked out of their minds"  
"What's the address?" He said reluctantly.

Oikawa took a post it note off his desk and scribbled down a name and road name. He flicked it across the desk.

"You know it?"  
"I think I've seen it, yes"  
"So be in there for- shall we say, eleven? He'll find you and you'll make further arrangements then"

Kageyama nodded.

"And one last thing. Never ask this guy anything about his personal life."  
"Noted"

\---------

Kageyama got off the bus a stop early to allow himself time to walk and clear his head, what he was about to do was insane. He was going to meet a professional killer, in order to become one himself. He never thought his life would end up like this. He always pictured himself with volleyball as a big part in his life, and honestly, he hadn't picked up a volleyball in years. Such is the life when you get forced into hidden branches of the military. Your existence is a secret. Your disappearance isn't hard to cover up.

He watched some teenagers in the other side of the street. They were laughing and shouting and Kageyama couldn't help feel envious. They had their whole lives ahead of them. He was only 24, but it already seemed that his future had been decided for him. Of course this was only a meeting tonight, but he knew himself that there was no turning back from this point. He was destined for a career of killing, a life spent with hands covered in blood. He'd get used to it, he certainly had in the military- but that was what scared him the most.  
No one should get used to killing people.

He reached the club, and he could hear the music even when walking outside. _This music is shit_ he thought. This was going to be a very uncomfortable night for him; he'd never liked crowds and he'd never liked noise.

He heard the excitable people queuing to get in before he saw it. A large queue extending far beyond the lines set up, snaking round the bend in the road. He edged his way along the unmoving queue, murmuring apologies to the people he passed. He drew himself up to his full height, deliberately maintaining his authority even when out of uniform. He'd discovered years ago that if you acted like you were meant to be there, very few people questioned it. He got a few glares, but nothing more.

He got to the front of the queue, where the bouncer frowned at him, and moved slightly in case Kageyama was about to make a break for it and run past him.

"My name is Kageyama Tobio"  
The man nodded moving to let Kageyama in. Kageyama walked ahead, not looking back at the hushed whispers behind him and trying to ignore the fleeting look of panic that had crossed the bouncers face when he'd heard his name. What had Oikawa done to get him on the guest list? He didn't really want to know.

He entered the club, being greeted by pink and purple strobe lights as he did. The noise was far more than outside and he wondered how he was going to speak to anyone in here without shouting. He watched from the closed door people dancing and enjoying themselves. He wondered how this could ever be found enjoyable, but apparently they did.

He looked around again, getting a better look at the faces surrounding him, the guys kissing other guys and girls with girls. It didn't bother him as such, but Oikawa's choice of club made him feel like the government had an unnerving knowledge of his personal life.

"It's a gay club?" He said quietly to himself.  
"Well, yes" a voice behind him that made him jump. "Two guys having a deep conversation in here is a lot less noticeable than in a normal club. Don't want any girls coming up and thinking you're here for the music"

He spun round, fully expecting to see a terrifying face looming over him. Instead he saw tufts of red hair, and he had to look down to see the person's face. An innocent, boyish looking face that couldn't be more than fourteen, but with the right clothes could be mistaken for eleven. He definitely shouldn't be allowed in the club.

He laughed.  
"That look right there? That's why they call me the decoy."


	2. Chapter 2

He was crouched on the sloped roof of the building, the long haired male in the scope of his gun. He kept the small cross on the back of his head, closing one eye and the muscles in his index finger tightening around the trigger. He exhaled, carful to not move the gun as he did. He wished, not for the first time, that Oikawa had told him the heinous crimes this man had committed. It would have been easier to kill if he knew why- but killing blindly- that seemed awfully close to murder. Not that he had a choice. You never had a choice where powerful people got involved.

" _There are always choices, Nishinoya Yuu. It might not seem like it. But there is always a choice."_

The words of his mother. The words she spoke to him just a few months before she herself was brutally murdered. Brutally murdered because he dared to refuse Oikawa when he'd first been asked to kill. So yeah, so much for choices.

He felt the gun buck against his shoulder before he was aware he'd even pulled the trigger, the noise of the gun ringing out across the paved square below him. He lowered the gun in order to look at what he'd done- to confirm he'd hit the target. He looked down into the square, now fille with screams, but there wasn't a body, and the long haired man wasn't among the runners.  
He wasn't there.  
He'd pulled the trigger with his sights on the back of his head, and now he was gone.  
Without a trace.

He loosened his dark hoodie that concealed his face in shock. He hadn't missed, not exactly. The target had just disappeared. Perhaps whilst he was momentarily distracted he'd escaped- but how had he known to? Sure, he was out on a roof, but no one had noticed him all day- not even after he'd fired a shot. So few people looked up he went unnoticed, as an assassin he relied on things like that.

Had he noticed? A figure in black on the roof with a gun was pretty suspicious, even if you weren't expecting it. Perhaps it was coincidence, he'd had an off day and got a little distracted. But he'd never believed in coincidences, everything had a reason and believing it didn't was just foolish.

He slipped unnoticed off the roof and walked home, feeling sick. He'd never missed a shot before. Something had changed, and probably not for the better.

\------------

He spent the next two weeks tailing the man, observing his routines, what routes he took, where he went. He found that he was very observant, but it wasn't a problem, not really. Even though he would be twenty six this coming October, he still hadn't reached 5'4. It meant he Lula slip on a school uniform and assumed as a high schooler on the way to school. It took away the suspicion, and made trailing someone so much easier.

Oikawa called him to his office two weeks into trailing Asahi.

"Good Morning, Yuu"  
"You don't get to call me Yuu."  
"I think you know that you have no right to tell me what to do. But I'll overlook it, shall I?"

Nishinoya narrowed his eyes and Oikawa watched his muscles tighten as if he was about to swing. He raised his eyebrows at him causing Nishinoya to get even angrier.

"You've never spent more than a week assassinating anyone before. It's impressive, I'll grant you that- but I'm curious about what's wrong"  
"Don't pretend you care"

Oikawa feigned a look of hurt.  
"I'm worried there might be a- a distraction. You know, like your mother"  
"That's low, Oikawa. You don't go bringing up my mother"

He nearly walked out there and then. But he didn't. He but his lip and sat on his hands to stop himself from lunging over and punching Oikawa's perfect face out of shape.

"So no?"  
"No" his voice was a low hiss.  
"So what's the hold up?"  
"I've been watching him. He's far bigger than me and very observant. He'd have a massive advantage in any level playing field. My best bet is to take him out when he's unaware"  
"That's all information I could have told you. Don't you read the files we give you?"

He asked the question like a teacher disappointed in a pupil, preparing to get very angry but feigning ignorance at first,

"Have you ever killed anyone, Oikawa?"  
"What?" He asked, incredulous.  
"You heard me. Have you ever killed anyone?"  
"I think you know I can kill" once again, referencing the mother he had killed.  
"I'm not talking about having people killed. I'm talking about killing. With your own bare hands, watching the life bleed out in front of you"  
"Well. I-"  
"And I know you haven't. Because no one, fucking no one whose ever killed would look at your fucking file. I trust my own observations far more than yours you little piece of shit."

And then Nishinoya Yuu stood up and walked out, leaving Oikawa staring back at him, mouth hanging open.

\-------------

It was the sixteenth day since he heard about his new target that he'd followed him down a dark alleyway. Asahi was wearing headphones, completely unaware. Noya knew in theory that it wasn't the noise of the gun that warned him out the way in time, for it would be impossible for anyone to move that fast. But his instincts were not to be ignored, because in this is game, your instincts are the only thing keeping you alive.

He reached in to his pocket, pulling out a long thin tube that enclosed a poisoned blow dart. Chemistry was his only strength at school and he'd managed to concoct a poison that would t show up in autopsy. It was slower and easier to dodge than a gun, but it was far less messy- and more importantly- it was silent.

With one last look at the unaware man in front, he raised the the tube to his mouth and blew down it. They often say that before you die you see your whole life flash before you. The same is true of killing, you imagine the life of your victim, how they came to be where they are. What evil crimes have they committed? What have they yet to do? How would the world change is he didn't do it? Or an they innocent? Killed as a part of revenge? Like his mother.

It doesn't get easier.  
It gets harder.  
Waking up each day and knowing because of you- dozens of people aren't.  
Watching the life bleed out of someone is hard, even harder because you never stop seeing it. You dream of it, and you see it when you close your eyes.  
Blood.

You're never fully clean of it.

He looked up, watching the dart find its target. The dart ten feet away from him.  
Five feet away.  
Two feet.  
One foot.

And just before impact, just when it looks like the end for the man with long hair, he stepped to the side, and reached out his hand. He caught the dart, holding it at arms length between his thumb and index finger, then he snapped it in half, using only those two fingers. He dropped it in the soft earth before walking on with a second look back at him.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Nishinoya couldn't stop himself from saying  
"Nice, Asahi-San, nice"

He ran his hand through the red wig helping conceal his identity and although Asahi's antics were annoying him, he couldn't help but be impressed.

He sat in a local cafe, examining his options. Asahi was aware there was someone tracking him. He was unlikely to succeed in surprising him and killing him from behind. He had to avoid in physical confrontation because Asahi had a good foot on him and he would come far worse off. So his only other option was a fake relationship. Asahi was clearly gay and he'd never seen Nishinoya's face. He could certainly get away with it and it was his best hope of a successful assassination.

He hated that. A fake relationship was awful because it involved so much hurt, to kill a person who had fallen in love with you and believed you loved them back. It was nasty. He'd only done one before and he'd had to take an extended leave of absence afterward because it had taken such a toll on him.

Of course, the other guy had come away dead.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't like this chapter. I've rewritten it, but I don't really have the words to say what I want to. Sorry about that. also, thanks for keeping up with the story so far, I love you all for reading the shit my brain comes up with.

Kageyama woke up alone in the dark. His head was pounding against his skull and he couldn't remember anything.

_Have I been drugged? Feels like it._

His head was pressed against his chest and his whole body lay at awkward angles. He tried to stretch his neck, moving his head just slightly. He hit it against something hard.  
_Fuck_.

When his eyes finally adjusted to the dark, he realised he was in the trunk of a car. He was in the trunk of a moving car and his wrists and ankles were bound with duct tape.

_Did you do this?_ He asked the red headed figure from last night.

_Was this you?_

\---------

  
It was an hour later when the car stopped, throwing Kageyama against one of the walls of the trunk. There were heavy footsteps and then the man opened the boot, allowing light to flood into his face. He couldn't use his hands to cover his face because they were tied in front of him. He groaned before opening one eye, just a slit, to view the man standing before him.

He raised his eyebrows, as if expecting Kageyama to ask him a question. Kageyama had a hundred questions he wanted to ask him, but he didn't know which one was most important to ask first. Without meaning to, all the questions he had in mind came out on his tongue in the form of one question:  
"What the fuck?"

He laughed.  
"Did you drug me?"  
"Yes" he said bluntly.

He didn't expect him to be the open about it. After all, the man was called the decoy.

"Of course I drugged you. I didn't want you to make a scene about travelling in the trunk"  
"Why _did_ I have to travel in the trunk?"  
"I'm a professional assassin, it's obvious I have opposition. I can take one on one, yes. But what if you were going to find out where I stay and then get a team of people on me? It comes with the territory Kageyama-kun. If you aren't careful, you end up dead."

"So where are we?"  
"Yes, I went through all the trouble of drugging you just to tell you anyway. We aren't there, anyway. You've been in the trunk for over five hours. I thought maybe you might want to go take a piss or eat something."  
"I'd love to, but I'm kind of tied up right now"

The man's eyes widened and Kageyama watched as a blush crept up his cheeks. He stumbled over his words in the embarrassment of missing something obvious.  
He reached for a knife in his pocket and used it to cut the tape securing his wrists and ankles. Kageyama tried to manoeuvre himself out the car, but his muscles cramped and he collapsed in a heap on the ground by the trunk.

He looked up at the sky, face colouring with embarrassment. When he opened his eyes, the red headed man was looking down at him, concern all over his face. His hair highlighted by the sun running through it.  
God damn.  
He's beautiful.  
Very beautiful.

He reached hand out to Kageyama, and in shock he took it and used it to pull himself up.

"You alright?"  
"Yeah, I'm fine"  
"Look, the toilets are over there. I'll go grab a couple burgers and I'll meet you outside."

From the lighting, Kageyama guessed it to be early morning, perhaps 6, maybe a little earlier. The toilets were empty, and fairly clean for a public rest stop. The mirrors were mostly intact, and there was only a small amount of graffiti on the backs of the cubicle doors.

He walked from the last cubicle in the row into the centre of the room, where a ray of sunlight shine throw the high window. He stood in front of the cracked mirror for five minutes, examining his face. On the left side, the beginnings of the bruise from where he fell out the car. His eyes were bloodshot, most likely a side effect of whatever his drink had been spiked with. He took a moment to steady his breath, using the figure in the mirror as something to focus on.

This didn't make any sense. He'd only been to see Oikawa the day before, and now here he was, alone, shaking in a deserted toilet. He had, in the basic sense of the word been abducted. He had never agreed to any of this. He'd agreed to meeting whoever the red headed man was, not to be drugged and put in the trunk of his car. Of course, most abductors didn't stop at a rest stop to buy their abductee a McDonalds, but still. Being kidnapped by an assassin. That was a new one.

The worst part, he decided, was the fact that know one knew he was here, nor would they ever find out he was missing. He'd spent so much of his time retaining invisibility that he'd never left an impression on anyone. He'd probably end up being killed and his death would be hidden, no one would ever know, nor would they care.

He looked again in the mirror, and instead of seeing himself, he saw his eighteen year old self. At eighteen he had nothing more in his life than volleyball. He was been scouted by several different universities for his volleyball. But at eighteen he was stupid. He decided to throw it all away, all those years of training to join the military. He used to think he knew why he did it.

He didn't anymore.

He realised he was crying. There were tears streaming down his face. He hadn't cried in years. In anger and frustration probably, but sadness? The nature of his life had numbed him to it. But now he cried. The tears spilling over his eyelashes however much he tried to fight them. He could hear someone pacing around outside the toilets but he couldn't go out, not like this, he couldn't let a professional assassin see him cry.

He grabbed a roll of toilet paper with shaking hands, his fingers fumbling as he tried to tear of a piece to dab on his face. The door creeped and he heard gentle footsteps come inside.

"Kageyama?"  
He walked in and spotted Kageyama crumpled in a heap on the floor, head in his hands, silently sobbing.  
"Oh"  
He sat down next to him, placing a gentle hand on Kageyama's back.  
"Kageyama?" He said gently "look at me"  
He pried Kageyama's hands away from his tear stained face.  
"Listen to me- it gets better"  
Kageyama sighed.  
"I'm not going to lie to you. It'll never be good. But hey, I felt like this too"

He tossed one of the McDonald bags at him. Kageyama caught it without looking up at him.  
"I-I don't get you" his voice was breaking, and Hinata could hear the pain in his voice.  
"Sorry?"  
"You're a professional assassin. You drug me and you tie me up in the back of your car. Then you buy me McDonalds and comfort me when I'm crying. You're two different people, and I'm wondering which one is the real you."  
"I like to think that the murderous part of me didn't used to be a part of me. I like to think it bred in me over the past, I don't know" he closed his eyes in thought "Eight years. Is that right? Eight?"  
"How old are you?"  
"I'm twenty four. Same as you"  
"But eight years? You were sixteen? That's awful"  
He nodded "Are you okay now? Cause we should get going-"

Kageyama stood up, smiling for the first time in God-knows how long. They walked together to Hinata's car and just before Kageyama opened the trunk he said-

"You know Kageyama, I like you. You can come sit in the front if you want"  
"Really?"  
"Yeah, come on"

They sat in silence for the first hour, Kageyama focused on his own thought  
"You're far too trusting, you know?" He said it without meaning too, speaking without realising he had spoken.  
"What?"  
"You went to all the effort to avoid me finding out where we were going, and then what? You just gave up?"  
"Well, that's not-"  
"Why? Because you saw me cry?"  
"Maybe. It's stupid, I know, but I trust you"  
"You are so naïve"  
"Would you rather go back in the trunk?"

Kageyama smiled.  
"You know, it might be stupid, but I like you too"

Kageyama hated himself for the way that his eyes were drawn to the man's lips, he hated the way that he wished he would lean over and kiss him. He hated the way he would never tell him how he felt. He hated everything about this.

"And one last thing" Kageyama said slowly  
"Mm?" His eyes were focused on the road  
"What's your name?"  
"My name?"  
"You know mine, and I'd like to know yours"  
"I-"  
"Come on, I know your car, I know where we're going, your name won't make any difference"  
"I guess-"  
"So what's your name?"  
"Hinata. Hinata Shouyou"

\---------

Kenma sat at a laptop, mouth open in shock. It had been his idea to plant the bugs, but he hadn't expected anything to come of them. He'd done it mainly to shut Kuroo up and rule out the remote possibility of Oikawa being involved. He didn't expect what he saw on the laptop screen.

"This is bad. Very bad"

He skipped back to the beginning of the tape, watched it through to confirm what he saw was right. He replayed it again and again because what he saw was so incomprehensible.

"Kuro!"  
"KURO!"  
Kuroo came running, having heard the panic in Kenma's voice.  
"What's wrong?"

He wound the tape back to the beginning, pressing play so Kuroo could watch. Kuroo's reaction was mostly the same as Kenma's was.

  
"Holy shit, Kenma"


	4. Chapter 4

Asahi woke with a groan, turning over and burying his face in his pillow as he did so, trying to hide his face from the stabbing light coming through the window. Then, all at once, the headache started. It felt like someone was hitting his head with a hammer, digging glass into the backs of his eyes. He lifted his head off the pillow, causing the headache to amplify tenfold. He opened his eyes to see empty bottles and cans scattered over the floor.

 _Oh shit. What happened last night?_  
_What did I do?_

He dragged himself out his bed, walking across his apartment to the bathroom on shaking legs. He put both hands on the sink to steady himself has he stared at his reflection in the mirror. He looked like shit. His eyes were bloodshot, the skin around them red and puffy. His long hair was knotted and tangled and his breath like an alcoholic's. He opened the medicine cabinet, and found a bottle of aspirin. He unscrewed the lid, shaking the contents into his hand. He swallowed the last two pills of the bottle dry, then cupping his hand under the faucet to help the pills go down.

He felt the water and tablets hit his stomach seconds before the nausea hit him. He barely had time to turn around and kneel above the toilet before he started revealing exactly what he had consumed the night before. In the brief periods of respite he had between vomiting, he could hear noises of the street that pounded inside his head. He'd never thought that the noise of a bird outside could be so loud, but now every noise grated the inside of his skull.

_Why do people do this to themselves?_

And then, in the dignified position of kneeling before the toilet, the memories of last night started coming back to him.

 _"We've got a new target"_  
_"He is, strictly speaking, one of our assassins, but he's gone out of control- killing for sport"_  
_"You need to stop him"_  
_"We know you retired, but we need you just once more"_  
_"His name? Nishinoya Yuu"_

_So that's why he was drinking._

He was, officially, retired. Assassins did not retire. They worked until they were killed themselves or they lost their touch- which usually left them dead. Assassins did not make it past fifty, those who did found enjoyment in it, sadists. If you didn't enjoy killing, the job would drive you to insanity. In a job where you needed your wits about you, insanity got you killed.

He was aged 27, a far cry from any hypothetical retirement age- but he had friends in high places, higher than Oikawa. Not to mention, he had a killing power that even Oikawa was scared of. He'd simply mentioned Daichi and Suga while talking to Oikawa, telling him that he did not plan to work forever- that his next killing would be his last. He punctuated it with a crack of his knuckles that did far more subconsciously than it should have. Oikawa was a professional. It shouldn't have worked, and when it did Asahi shouldn't have expected his reprieve to last forever.

Honestly, it was amazing it had lasted so long, but after nine months, he had thought that maybe he was free. And then, out of the blue, one last killing. It wouldn't be the last one, not by a long shot. But he told himself it was the last one, because when faced with a life of killing, he couldn't do that. The more he thought about it, the worse it seemed.

Better not to focus on that.

He was an idiot. He had heard that he was being hunted by an assassin and that he needed to kill said assassin before he was killed himself. So what had he done? He gone and got himself blackout drunk. Last night it some of the pain away, which what he was aiming for. Today, though, the emotional pain was back- with the vengeance of a hangover too. He wouldn't go out today, he decided. He couldn't leave the house until the hangover was gone and he had his wits about him again, otherwise Nishinoya might take advantage of his weakened state.

When he was finished dry retching over the bowl, he stumbled back into the small room, now littered with bottles. He spotted an empty bottle of vodka, lying on its side on the carpet. He didn't keep vodka in the apartment, so he must have bought it on the way home from Oikawa's. Now the litre bottle was empty, the remains of last night spilt over the carpet.

_That's a fuckton of alcohol, Asahi. Don't be surprised you feel like this._

He collapsed in his bed, face down to guard him from the stabbing light and attempted to sleep off the hangover.

\---------------

Asahi spent the whole of the next day uncomfortable, hair on the back of his neck standing on end for hours. He had the unshakable feeling of being watched, most likely made worse by the fact he was undoubtedly being watched by a rogue assassin. He spent hours scanning rooftops, alleyways, dark alcoves of the street. He was careful to avoid drawing attention to the way he looked around, as far as he knew Nishinoya was unaware that he was being hunted. He would keep it that way for as long as possible.

Around eleven in the morning, he spotted a darkened figure on the roof. They were clothed in black, crouched down, viewing Asahi through the scope of a gun. From the brief glance he took of Nishinoya, he looked distracted. He slipped off the street into a small coffee shop with steamy windows. He sat at a table by the window, watching the paved square outside. Five minutes later, a crack of a gunshot and screams echoing outside. No one was hurt- Noya would not have hit someone else, but a bullet hitting the paving in a crowded square- it sets people into panic.

But Asahi knew that it would have shocked Noya far more than anything else. Chances are, he'd never missed a shot before. It would scare him, suddenly, in his mind, his target had just outsmarted him. He knew, and Nishinoya would too, that the vast majority of successful assassinations were carried out on the first attempt.

But whatever effect the failed attempt had on Nishinoya, it would certainly work in Asahi's favour.

\----------

Asahi's next fortnight was spent being stalked by Noya. He was aware of it, but he feigned ignorance. He made sure to only lead him into situations where he had the advantage if he tried to jump him. In fact, there were so many situations over the two weeks where if he was any good as an assassin, Nishinoya would be dead. There were so many opportunities to do what he had to do, but he didn't take any of them.

Because, truthfully speaking, despite his outward appearance- over six feet of muscle with long hair that attracted the wrong kinds of looks from law enforcement in passing, he was profoundly gentle. His heart was made of glass, every look, every offhand comment, grating closer and closer to his heart. He genuinely couldn't hurt a fly, he was the type of person that would let a spider crawl onto his finger and take it outside despite a crippling fear. He certainly was never expected by anyone to become an assassin, least of all by himself.

But here he was.  
Killing.

He knew what Nishinoya's next step would be. As he was being watched, he'd taken time to observe his target too. Looking at his personality and thought process, the next logical step for Noya would be a poisoned dart. He was most likely confused by his previous attempt. He would be wondering why Asahi had managed to escape, and an irrational part of him would question the noise of the gun.

Darts were silent and easier to dodge, but silent- and a lot less messy. Easier to hide too. Exactly two weeks to the day from his first attempt, Asahi found himself leading Noya down twisting alleyways, cobbled streets and dirt paths between houses and trees. Noya was wearing a heavy coat, far too heavy for the spring. That was his first sign something was going to happen.

Sure enough, he reached into the depths of the inside of his coat and pulled out a long tube. He was behind him, but assassination changed you not only mental but physically too. One of the more benevolent changes was a widened peripheral vision. A heightened awareness of surroundings. The long, thin tube was undoubtedly a blow dart, the next attempt on his life.

He waited for the warning call of a sharp intake of breath behind him and he started a countdown in his head.  
_3..._  
_2..._  
_1..._

He stepped to the side, reaching out his hand to catch it. It was quite a reflex, really, being able to catch the dart as it tried to find him. He held it at arm's length between the pads of his thumb and forefinger. He rolled it between the tips of his fingers before snapping it in half as if it was a twig. He threw it over his shoulder without turning back, careful that Noya didn't see the smile on his face.

\--------------

The next day, Asahi was sat at the same table as a couple weeks earlier with a coffee. He wondered when the next attempt would happen. He would be massively fazed by the way he had dealt with the dart. He would probably try a whole try approach, but it was beyond him what he would try next. He was so consumed with his own thoughts he didn't hear Nishinoya approach from behind him.

"Hey? Everywhere else is full. Do you mind if I sit here?"

_He's going to try to start a relationship with me? Didn't expect him to do that._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm kind of proud of this chapter, I like it- I think it reads well. Maybe I'm completly wrong- but I hope you like it :)


	5. Chapter 5

The four men sat around the computer monitor. As the footage finished, the silence in the room was overwhelming.

"How sure are we about this?" Bokuto said, breaking the silence.  
Kenma ran his hands through his hair.  
"I don't know. You've seen as much as I have."  
"This is-"  
"Bad? Yeah, you could say that."  
"So what happens next?"

All the eyes in the room moved toward Kenma, but he hadn't started to think about what this meant yet.

"I really don't know"

They were shocked. They been looking for Oikawa possibly taking bribes, maybe hiring an assassin for more than a national security purpose. They hadn't expected this. They had watched Oikawa hire two assassins are hire them on each other. Neither Akaashi or Kenma had an answer, the two voices of logic and planning amongst the four.

"What I don't get" Akaashi said, "is why he's doing this"  
"Neither do I" Kenma said  
"We already knew that he was a sociopath. But he isn't a psychopath. The terms are often confused, for they both suffer a lack of conscience. However, a psychopath is a sadist and a sociopath is not. A psychopath enjoys causing pain, where a sociopath is merely indifferent."  
"So you're saying-"  
"I'm saying that he's is getting some sort of payoff or benefit from doing this"  
"And our next step is to find out what the benefit is"  
"Exactly"

Kuroo and Bokuto looked at each other helplessly. They never really followed the conversation when Kenma and Akaashi started talking. They gave input where they could, but generally the planning was left to Kenma and Akaashi and the execution was left to them,

"So you want us to break into his office again and plant more cameras?" Bokuto said.  
"I think so"

\------------

An hour later, they were on the floor of the apartment's living room, maps and floor plans scattering the floor between. Kenma took a large red pen and marked the route on the floor plan, Akaashi marking escape routes in green.

"Okay," Bokuto said "me and Kuroo are going to plant tiny cameras all over his office and apartment so we can see what he's doing, yes?"

A glance round the room showed everyone nodded in agreement.

"But. If I was doing something shady, I wouldn't be doing it in my office or apartment. I do it somewhere else, changing locations and stuff."  
"He's got a point" Akaashi said.  
"So what do we do about it?" Kenma said, thought in his expression.

"Isn't it obvious?" Kuroo said, sitting up because he had decided no one would take him seriously if he spoke whilst still lying in the ground, his head resting in Kenma's lap. "Me and Bokuto, we're spies. We can do more than plant cameras, you know? We both have plenty experience trailing people"

Bokuto nodded, but he didn't remove his hand from Akaashi's.

"I don't know-" Akaashi said, and he knew he was being stupid. It was his boyfriend's job to spy, and unlike him, Bokuto did his job willingly. Bokuto and Kuroo both enjoyed what they did, and that's why they didn't resign the same time he did, a few years back. Kenma had never been involved in espionage, his skills with computers and hacking were needed elsewhere. Now he worked with Kenma in the planning of missions.

But it hurt him. Every time he watched Kuroo and Bokuto leave, he knew they might not come back. Every time they smiled and waved over their shoulders? It could be the last time. And knowing that- however good they were, however talented- they could make mistakes. Knowing them, unless their personalities changed dramatically when they were on the job, it was only a mater of time before they were killed.

It wasn't really his business, especially when Bokuto and Kuroo were so happy to do it. But he couldn't stop imagining the time that they didn't come back. He'd spent so long in agony where he loved Bokuto and didn't know the feeling was mutual. It would be so cruel, yet so tragically possible that he would lose him so soon. It was hard enough when they were planting bugs in an office, but when they were actively stalking dangerous sociopaths into shady situations? That was slightly more danger than Akaashi liked his boyfriend being in.

"Akaashi, It's going to be fine" Kenma said with a smile, apparently the only one who had noticed the way his face fell when they mentioned it.

\-------

One week later and all the plans were in place. Bokuto and Kuroo had almost invisible ear pieces that allowed them to talk to Kenma and Akaashi who were staying in the dingy apartment. A tracker they each wore allowed Kenma to watch their position on a map on the computer screen. The preparations were in place, but it didn't make Akaashi any less uneasy about the whole thing.

Bokuto left him laughing, with a deep kiss and a wave over the shoulder. Kenma held his hand the whole time to stop him from shaking.

"They're professionals, Akaashi"  
"I know"  
\----------

It was a twenty minute train journey into central Tokyo. The suits they wore helped them blend in with the other commuters, creating an authority that was not to be questioned. Kuroo pulled out a newspaper, three maps inside.   
"I'll handle his office and you the apartment. We'll rendezvous here," he pointed to the map "and then we start trailing him, okay?"  
"Sounds good"

Bokuto disembarked the train two stops earlier than Kuroo. Oikawa lived in the rich part of Tokyo, among the elite. His office was in a typical building in the business centre. Kuroo had no problems putinh cameras around Oikawa's workspace, because it was his day off. This fact made Bokuto's mission a lot harder, and they hadn't planned for it. They hadn't realised he would take the day off.

"Bro" he hissed through the headset "he isn't at his office. He's probably at home"  
"He is. I can see him moving about inside."  
"I've got an idea. Stay hidden until I come talk you, okay?"  
"Okay"

Suddenly Kenma and Akaashi were in his ear, asking in a panic what this crazy plan is, what's he going to do. Kuroo took out the earpiece so he couldn't hear their panic unfolding with a smug smile.

First he went into the chemist and got a pair of rubber gloves. Couldn't leave any fingerprints on anything, Oikawa was too smart and he'd have everything checked. Then he went into the shop next door and bought a box set of DVDs. A very understated gift. He'd assume that it had been delivered to the wrong house rather than anything else.

With the DVDs in hand he bought a roll of parcel paper and some tape, and wrapped up the package and wrote Oikawa's address. The last thing he needed was a courier's uniform, turning up with a package at Oikawa's door to temporarily distract him and allowing Bokuto to slip cameras over the apartment. He needed to look the part, turning up in a suit might raise suspicions. There wasn't a shop that sold courier uniforms, he was at a loss for where to find one. He ran his hand through his hair, realising his plan hadn't been quite thought through. He replaced the earpiece in his ear, to hear Akaashi and Kenma still shouting at him. He watched a courier walk past and with a grin he decided how he was going to get a uniform.

_"Hold on, Bro, I've got an idea"_

He followed the man down an alley, he was completely unaware, headphones in his ears. In three quick strides Kuroo was on top of him, a chloroform soaked rag over his face.

"Sorry about this mate"

After looking at the unconscious man, Kuroo decided that he really only needed a jacket and bag, he could zip the jacket up all the way and no one would be any the wiser. He took the jacket off the limp body, before sitting him up against a dumpster. The amount of chloroform used on his rag meant the man would be conscious again with thirty seconds, and Kuroo couldn't risk being around when he came to.  
  
He rode the train back to Bokuto and told him "Listen, I'm going to distract him by delivering something. Whilst he's doing that you need to sneak in and do what you need to do. I'll delay him as long as I can but you need to be quick."  
"Sounds good to me"

He stood out the front door, arm raised about to ring to doorbell.  
" _Okay bro, on 3- 1...2...3...."_  
He pressed the doorbell and even over the shrill ring, he could hear his own heart pounding. His heart only got louder as he could hear footsteps in the apartment getting louder and louder. The door swung open, and Oikawa stood on the threshold. He cocked his head at Kuroo, arms folded looking him up and down scathingly. Kuroo cleared his throat.

"I have a package for Oikawa Tooru."  
"I never ordered anything"  
"Perhaps it was a gift"  
"No one sent me a gift"

_I can hear Bokuto moving around in there. Just delay him a little more. As long as you can._

"I don't know, I'm delivering a package sent to this address"  
"Give it here" Oikawa snapped has he snatched the parcel out of Kuroo's hand, turning it over and inspecting it. "Okay"  
"I'll need you to sign for it then"

" _I'm almost done. Just delay him a little longer, Kuroo"_

Oikawa sighed as Kuroo reached into the bag, wishing he had checked what the bag contained first. His hand closed around a form, and he spent a few extra seconds rummaging in the bag to give Bokuto more time.

He pulled it out and pointed to a dotted line.  
"Sign here"  
Oikawa bit his lip, eyes widening in frustration.  
"I need a pen"  
"Ah"  
"I'll get one-"  
"NO. No. I- I've got one here"  
"So I just sign?"  
"Just sign"

Oikawa signed his name in an overly elaborate fashion, whilst Kuroo started to panic because he hadn't heard from Bokuto yet and he was almost out of time.

" _Okay, I'm out of there. It's okay to let him go"_

With a sigh of relief Kuroo handed over the package smiling, still being suspiciously eyed up by Oikawa. On shaking legs he walked up the corridor of the apartment building, heading toward the lift. As soon as the doors opened on the ground floor, Bokuto was outside smiling and the first thing Kuroo did was run up to him with his arms outstretched and they hugged, drawing some glades from others but neither really cared.

"Listen," Bokuto said "I was thinking that Oikawa isn't going anywhere today. I tapped his phones while I was in there too. I think we'd be better off listening to his calls, finding out more about him before we pick up his trail."  
"I think so"

\-------------

Out of all the phone calls they recorded over the following week, there was only thirty seconds of anything of interest. They spent hours listening to it, but they still couldn't fully decipher what was being said. Oikawa's part was easy, perhaps there was an edge of panic in his voice, but understandable nonetheless. The man on the other end had a heavy accent and mumbled to the point where his speech was unintelligible.

"We are clear on what is being said at the beginning" Kenma said, summarising the continued discussion over the past 48 hours. "Oikawa picks up the phone, asks who it is before getting angry and saying that he should not be calling him on this phone, he knows the number if he wants to talk. Then we don't know what is said for ten seconds. Oikawa seems panicked and says 'yes, I've done it'. The man then speaks for a long time. We have recognised that he mentions betting, gambling and possibly a hostage."

"But what does that mean?" Akaashi said  
"We don't know. All we know is it's a lot more complex than we originally thought"

Kenma didn't like this. Kuroo and Bokuto had gone out in search of bringing them closer to the truth of whatever was happening with Oikawa. Instead, the more they found out about it, the more they had left to find out. All they were doing was educating themselves on their own ignorance.

He didn't like this at all.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was thinking about what's missing from this and I realised iwaoi angst. So here you go

Iwaizumi had lost all sense of time passing. At his best guess, this nightmare had started a few weeks before. He had been walking home from the station, taking a shortcut down a desolate alleyway because he was running late and Oikawa was waiting for him. From the time he got on the train, he was unexplainably on edge, panicked for no reason he could see. He was nearly home, Oikawa had just called, asked where he was.

The footsteps behind him got quicker, and his pulse went alongside them. He turned to see the face of his stalker, but he was greeted by a heavy blow to his face by an unseen assailant. Suddenly he was on his back, the world before him fading to blackness all around.

And then he was here. He'd woken up alone in a dark room, void of any natural light that would help him work out what time of day it was. Both of his arms were shackled to different walls, forcing him into a sitting position in the corner. He didn't cry out when he first woke up, whenever that was. He didn't shout, cry or beg. He didn't know why or who had abducted him, and he couldn't risk showing weakness until he knew more. The next time he woke up, there was someone else in the room. Their face was obscured by a mask, and they set a bowl of food down at Iwaizumi's feet.

Iwaizumi narrowed his eyes  
"You've tied up my arms. I can't eat this"  
"I'm sure you'll find a way"  
"You want me to eat like a dog?"  
"I don't care if you eat or not"

Iwaizumi was about to say something smart back, despite his better judgement. Before he could say what was on his mind, another person wearing a mask barged into the small room.

"Hey, you don't get to talk to him"

He walked over and kicked him in the ribs. Iwaizumi didn't scream, or yell in pain. His gaze didn't  
waver.

"So we're all tough then?"

He proceeded to kick Iwaizumi again. Seemingly angered by the lack of reaction. He aims another kick higher up, his foot connecting with his jaw. Iwaizumi didn't break eye contact the whole time, his eyes narrowing with defiance as he spat the blood from his mouth on to the floor.

"Come on. Just one little scream"

He punctuated each word with a blow. Iwaizumi was in agony, blow after blow coming at him and he had no way to protect himself. But watching the man's frustration grow at his reaction was sort of fun.

Then starting with one punch to his head the made him feel slightly lightheaded, the world around him going blacker with every hit. And as he lost consciousness, he made sure to maintain eye contact with his attacker.

When Iwaizumi next woke up, he was alone. He swallowed his pride and planted his face in the bowl and ate it without his hands. He had more food over him at the end than he had actually eaten, and even if he had managed to eat everything- it wouldn't have been enough. He hadn't eaten in several days at this point, but it shouldn't have surprised him. Clearly whoever had taken him was not concerned about his comfort.

Slowly a week turned to two, and after a while the days just blurred together. He didn't see any more people, the food would just appear in front of him when he woke up sometimes. His days were not defined by any measurable time, and they comprised of two parts. The sleeping part, where he was plagued with mainly nightmares was still infinitely better than the waking part. The part where he was awake, he suffered the pain in his body, the hunger pangs, and his own stench. He had managed to pull of his own shirt by ripping the back against the wall. It had helped significantly for the room was hot and stuffy and his two week old shirt was not improving the smell. Sometimes there was food.   
Never enough of it though.

The first change in weeks came when he woke up to a tender hand on the side of his face. His eyes opened, and he saw Oikawa standing there. Part of him thought he was dreaming. Another that he was halkucinating.

"You look like shit Iwa-chan."  
No, it really was him.

"Don't take advantage of the fact my arms are tied. I'll beat you up when I get out of here"  
Oikawa gave him a sad smile.  
"I'm so sorry about this Iwa-chan"  
He wrapped his arms round Iwaizumi's torso, sobbing into his bare skin.  
"I'm so so sorry"  
"Is it your fault, Oikawa?"  
"Not exactly. They want me to arrange a couple things for them, then they'll get you go."

Iwaizumi felt himself be filled with dread. He was being used for a ransom. Worst of all, Oikawa made it sound like he was going to do whatever horrific thing they wanted.

"What is it they want you to do?"

Oikawa ignored the question. Confirming Iwaizumi's suspicions that it was a really nasty thing that he's going to do.

"I'll get you out of here, Iwa-chan, I promise"  
"Tooru-"  
"I love you"

Oikawa got up to leave.  
"OIKAWA!"  
Oikawa just looked back at him, sadness in his eyes.  
"OIKAWA TOORU! You tell me what's going on here." His voice broke "please"

He stopped in the doorframe, the door half closed.  
"I love you, Iwa-chan"

Then the door swung shut, leaving him alone in the dark yet again.  
"I love you too" he whispered.   
No one heard him.

Even as he sat there he knew Oikawa would do something. These were clearly dangerous volatile men keeping him here, and they wanted Oikawa to do something for them. If it was for money, Oikawa would have paid it and he would have be free, yet he was still here. So it was an act they wanted. An act they weren't willing to do themselves. He had a horrible feeling it was to do with his work with assassins.

"Don't do anything stupid,Tooru"  
\--------------

An hour beforehand, Oikawa sat at a desk before the man with the accent. Both men were completely unaware of the two men listening to their conversation in the air vents. On the left side of the room, Kuroo was looking down on the room, lying down resting on his ribs. He could see Bokuto's eyes on the other side of the room. He touched his index finger and thumb together in a circle, giving a mock salute to Kuroo. He nodded, the beginnings a of a smile on his face.

The door is opened and shut aggressively, a man they recognise to be Oikawa sat down at the desk, clearly angry at the man across from him.   
"You want to see me, Oikawa?"  
"Obviously" he hissed  
He smiled, ignoring the hatred in Oikawa's voice.  
"What did you want to say?"  
"I did it" he said it without emotion.  
"It?"  
"It."

' _It_?' Bokuto mouthed at Kuroo.

"I set two of my own assassins on each other. I fitted their apartments with cameras, I have people tracking their every move. As per your request" the venom was obvious in his voice.  
"Did you prepare my files on them too?"  
Oikawa bit his lip. "I did, yes"  
"I'm sure that will make my customers very happy?"

Kuroo met Bokuto's eyes, narrowing his own. _Customers_? Bokuto looked just as confused as he felt himself.

"Is that all, Oikawa?"  
"What? No. I-"  
"What was it?"  
"I've upheld my side of our 'deal', you should fulfil your part"  
"My part?" The man sounded incredulous

Oikawa glared at him with such intensity that the man flinched.

"Your friend?"  
"Yes" his voice was a poisoned hiss, for even the man knew that Iwaizumi was so much more than a 'friend'  
"Maybe I'm wrong Oikawa, but I don't trust you. I think you're looking for any opportunity to tell your precious assassins about what I'm up to."  
The look of Oikawa's face confirmed his suspicions.  
"So to avoid any betrayals on your part, you will only get him back when one or both of your assassins is dead."

So that, in itself was a death sentence for Nishinoya Yuu or Azumane Asahi. He was going to go home at call them off the job when Iwaizumi was free, but his plan was scuppered. In order to save his boyfriend, he was going to have to kill assassins. It shouldn't have bothered him as much as it did, when you dabbled in the worlds of assassins, people would get killed, often for less than moral reasons. He had personally and many people killed for his own gains. But pitting two assassins against each other, a simple game of who could kill the quickest, for some invisible audience. An invisible audience that wanted this sickening game for an extreme version of horse racing. There was a large enough audience of people watching the events unfold and betting vast amounts of money on who would perish first.

It was disgusting.

But he had to do it, otherwise they'd kill Iwaizumi.  
The worst part of it all, was that Iwaizumi would find out what he had done and he'd never forgive him for it.  
'You should have let me die!" He would say. He would leave him for doing what he was about to do. Visiting him had only made it worse. He would leave him and Oikawa would be left more alone than ever.

He still didn't have a choice. He was going to do it, because he had to.  
He couldn't let Iwa-chan die.  
Even if he never forgave him for saving him.  
He was going to do it.


	7. Chapter 7

Asahi stood in front of the mirror. His reflection stared back at him in an ill-fitting suit that like all his clothes, didn't quite fit over the bulk of his muscles. He closed his eyes, running a hand through his hair. He focused on his hair for a moment, trying to calm his nerves. He focused in the way it felt under his fingers, the softness of it, then he stopped.

He shouldn't have been nervous, he really shouldn't because it wasn't a real date. It wasn't. Nishinoya wanted an opportunity to kill him, he wanted the same. But Nishinoya's choice of restaurant struck fear into Asahi's heart. It was a black tie deal, ridiculously expensive. A place for couples on big anniversaries, proposals and the super rich. He had only been there once before, when he had tried to propose to his boyfriend at the time.

He'd been wearing this same suit, a ring box in his pocket. They'd both ordered desert, but before it arrived he had reached across the table grabbing both of his boyfriends hands.

" _Akio," he'd said looking into his eyes, a deep green that he had fallen in love with many years ago "I love you-"_  
"Asahi, I need to say something" Akio looked distinctly uncomfortable.  
"Wait- can I just say this first" he guessed that he wasn't expecting good news even then. But he had wanted to say it still, he needed to say it.  
"Asahi-chan-"  
"Akio?"  
"It's over Asahi."

_Asahi pulled away, tears beginning to form behind his eyes_

_"What? I- Akio?"  
"I'm sorry Asahi" Akio said, getting up from the table and leaving the restaurant, followed by the eyes of everyone in the room. Leaving Asahi with two deserts on the table and a unseen ring in his hand._

He hadn't dated since, except for the coffee he'd had with Yuu a week ago. And then now, he was going back to the place he had his heart broken. Was it a coincidence? He didn't think so, Nishinoya probably thought that the atmosphere of the restaurant would distract him. He was right, but he wouldn't let himself be killed over Akio. Akio had already taken so much.

He shuddered to try and dismiss the memory. His hand closed around a box in his pocket, the same pocket and same size box as before, but with very different contents. The box contained three coloured vials, one blue, one green, one red. The first was a universal antidote- pretty hard to come across and fairly unknown even in assassins circles. He didn't want to use it because it came with some serious side affects, which he would rather avoid. The green vial contained an indicator, I droplet in his food would show the poisons that had been added. The red vial, the final one contained poison, one he would use against Noya if he got the chance.

He shut the box, hearing the click in his fingers as he did so. He checked his phone again, a simple text from Noya-

' _I'll pick you up at 8, wear something nice ;)'_

He checked his watch: 15 minutes left. He went into the kitchen and emptied a sachet of powder into a glass of water and drank it. It would block some poisons and at least delay the effects of others.

It was all a precaution of course, the sachet and the vials in his pocket. He would keep an eye on his food, but any poisons added would be topical, added by Noya at table. They would not have been cooked into the actual meal- he had an old friend infiltrating in the kitchen.

Ennoshita never wanted to dabble in the dirty business Asahi had found himself forced into, his passions were in cooking. Somehow he had slipped through the net in a way that Asahi had never worked out how. He hadn't been involved for a good ten years and Ennoshita had put it behind him. He had put it behind him, leading a normal life as the head chef of a restaurant and a judo black belt in his spare time.

Then Asahi had called him.

Asahi was a close friend, and he was pulling in on a favour from long ago. His only task was to watch the others in the kitchen, make sure nothing went into his food that shouldn't. He'd told Asahi that he still couldn't be certain, he had no control over the supplier- if Nishinoya had payed them to slip something in the food. Also the waiter could easily put something on the plate on the way to the table.

"I know" Asahi had said. "But I think he will have someone in the kitchen do it"  
"You don't know that-"  
"I don't. But all I want you to do is check what happens in the kitchen"  
"I can do that"  
"Good" Asahi had said, relief in his voice. "Also, one last thing-"

Ennoshita sighed. "Really?-"  
"I want a list of the people working in the restaurant Monday night- if any of them are friends with Nishinoya Yuu"  
"How would I know if they are friends with Nishinoya Yuu. Surely asking would be a bit obvious, would it not?"  
"Can't you-"  
"Can't I what? Aren't you the one in the secret service? Surely you can find out a lot more than I can" Irritation starting to strain through his voice.

Asahi got up from the table and put his coat on. He nodded toward his friend and said "But you'll watch over my food in the kitchen"  
"I will"

\------------

Now Ennoshita stood in the kitchen. The general buzz of the kitchen formed around him, but he couldn't help but he on edge. Someone in this room would try and slip a poison into the food. But who? He considered everyone in the room his friend. Which of his friends was willing to kill a man?

As if conjured by his thoughts, when Ennoshita turned away from the boiling water he was tasked to watch, he turned back to see Tanaka pouring powder into the meal he was watching over.

"Hey! Ryuu?"

Tanaka half turned round, giving Ennoshita the briefest of glances, full of hate- and possibly sadness. His muscled tensed, remembering the training from a decade ago. He took a step forward towards Tanaka, but he was stopped by a firm arm around his waist. There was a cold blade at his throat and he was trapped.

"This doesn't concern you, Ennoshita," a voice hissed in his ear.  
"Terushima?" He said softly, disbelieving.  
"We don't want to hurt you-"

Ennoshita slowly eased his arms up so that his hands were resting lightly on the knife against his throat. He pushed the knife away whilst simultaneously kicking up his right leg into Terushima's crotch. Unsuspecting, Terushima fell the floor, wincing in pain. Ennoshita stood over him a rare shadow on his face that hadn't been seen in years. He held the knife in his hand as if checking the weight, before spinning it in his hand.

"Funny, because I do want to hurt you"

He wasn't thinking. He didn't know what he was saying.  
It was the person he was no longer, the person he had spent so long trying to drive out of him. And here it was again. He was losing control.

But he lunged forward, knife in hand at Terushima and the knife dug right into his chest. It made a crunch as it went in, a fountain of red flowing over his hands. In the back of his mind he screamed. He had just killed his friend on impulse, he couldn't do this, he shouldn't. He drew the knife out of Terushima's squirming chest, gasping.

Then he shoved the knife back into his chest, twisting it, making the blood spray out all over the kitchen. Tanaka, suitably recovered from shock, rugby tacked Ennoshita to the ground beside Terushima's now still body. He paused above him, pain and panic in his eyes.

He looked up at Narita, who stood in shock wide-eyed at the bloodbath unfolding before him. "Get out of here" Tanaka spat at him.  
Narita's eyes widened, and he nodded silently before leaving through the back door, unseen.

Tanaka had Ennoshita fulling pinned against the ground. He looked at him and sighed.

"Put the body in the freezer and start running"  
"What?!-"  
"I'm insane. I could turn you over to the police or kill you myself, but I still like you. Even after this. I still like you"  
"I don't-"  
"Get out of here now. Fake your death. Get a new identity. I've got an old friend, Lev Haiba. He can help you with that. Get a fake passport, leave a suicide note and leave the country"  
"What about you?"  
"I'll burn this place down. I'll make sure the fire destroys the evidence of Terushima's body. And one day-" he reached forward and grasped both of Ennoshita's hands, Terushima's blood on both of their palms- "and I'll find you. I promise. I will find you."  
"Okay" Ennoshita said, even though he knew that Tanaka would never find him once he left the country.  
"Listen. It's going to be okay" He handed Ennoshita a piece of paper-"Lev's number. I hear Argentina is nice this time of year."

Despite himself Ennoshita smiled. He squeezed Tanaka's hand, but he wouldn't kiss him. Not yet. That was too much like a goodbye.  
"See you, Ryuu"

\------------

Tanaka waited for a few minutes after Ennoshita had left. He doused Terushima in cooking oil, along with the floor and ovens. He struck several matches and let the fire consume the kitchen. He watched the fire burn until an insistent beeping of the smoke alarm advised him to get out before he aroused suspicion.

Outside the restaurant, some of the customers scattered. Others stood and watched the blaze.  
Narita approached Tanaka outside but it was Tanaka who spoke first.  
"Narita. What you saw back there-"  
"I won't tell"  
"Narita. You have no idea what the scale of what you witnessed is" he looked right into Narita's eyes. "This involves dangerous government assassins and politics. I won't tell anyone what you saw, but you have to realise that if you breathe a word of it to anyone- you'll end up dead"  
Narita paled. "Yes. Of course"

\--------------

A week later, Ennoshita stood in line to have his passport checked. Fear welled in his stomach but he couldn't let it show, not now when he needed to blend in more than ever. The new documents had come through impressively quick, and they were no less than impressive fakes. But they were just that, fakes. And they were about to be checked by people who made a living checking for fakes.

He looked nothing like Ennoshita Chikara. His hair was shorter, gelled up into spikes and bleached. He wore thick, round glasses and he had a fashion scarf covering his mouth. Like this he could probably walk past his own mother and not be recognised. But still, the anxiety in his stomach could not be quashed. He wondered if that was his life now. Fear of being found out, that would be with him always.  
Probably.

He was called forward and a woman stamped his passport without more than a glance in his direction.  
"Welcome to Argentina"


	8. Chapter 8

Kageyama woke to banging on the door of the room.

"Hey! Tobio? Asshole!"

_Tobio? Since when have we been using first names?_

_"_ Get up! We're going out!"  
"Mmh.. I'm getting dressed."

The door flew opened, and Kageyama pretended he didn't see Hinata's eyes linger on his bare abdomen. He caught a plastic bag thrown at him, and looked up and met Hinata's eyes, a question on his face.

"Clothes, Kageyama." He seemed on the verge of laughing, "I went out and bought you some. Your old ones stink and I don't think you'll fit mine."  
"Oh"

He opened the bag somewhat cautiously, wondering what fashion choice Hinata would have made for him. He pulled out a black t-shirt and jeans, and he pulled them on. The t-shirt was a little small, more fitting than he would like. The jeans hung a little loose, but it was better than he had expected.

"Hey. I'm cooking bacon. Be downstairs in five."

They sat at a small table eating the breakfast he had made. Kageyama sipped on orange juice while Hinata explained the plan for the day. He had a target he needed to take care of and he wanted Kageyama to come and help.

"Also, we're going to break into Oikawa's office"  
"WHAT?"  
"He's going to blackmail you. He'll make you think he knows things he doesn't. Before it all starts, you need to work out what he does and doesn't know. It'll be in your file. We'll go there first."

They walked miles over fields and hills to reach the nearest train station, and once they've reached the station it's an hour and a half to Tokyo.

The streets of Toyko are the same as ever, a bustling city full of men in suits. Kageyama stopped to help a fallen woman on the street, and afterwards Hinata hits him.  
"Idiot! You never leave a trail. She'll remember you"  
"I was just being nice-"  
"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm sorry. I'm a little stressed, we're running late."

He had been watching Oikawa's routine for the past fortnight, and it didn't change. From leaving his apartment in the morning, he toik exactly twenty-nine minutes to get to his office. His phone vibrated in his pocket, a warning that Oikawa was leaving. He grabbed Kageyama's wrist and pulled him faster than before, pulling him into Oikawa's building.

He was aware Kageyama was panicking and honestly, he didn't blame him. He was nervous. He just learned to hide it so far inside him that he didn't even feel it anymore.  
"Just act like you belong" he hissed.

They were careful not to touch too much, waiting for others to open doors and walking through when they were open. It's important not to leave a trail. Hinata snapped a pair of rubber gloves on and entered Oikawa's office. Kageyama stood guard outside whilst Hinata searched through cabinet after cabinet. He found the file marked with Kageyama's name as his phone vibrated again.  
_Five minutes._

He opened the file, and it's a thin one, just a few pieces of paper so far. OIKAWA clearly didn't know much yet. He pulled out the first sheet, his details from the military, nothing interesting. The second sheet detailed his health details, blood type and heart rate. Again not of interest.

The third sheet was photos of Kageyama and what must be his family. They weren't incriminating shots, but he had a bad feeling about them. He had a bad feeling about everything in this folder, but the photos were worse than most. He didn't have time now to work out what they were, so he moved onto the next piece of paper. It was a list written in sharpie like the remainder of the file.

He could hear footsteps in the hallway, he needed to get out now. Even if he left now he might not escape. He shoved the list in his pocket and left the room unseen. He and Kageyama ran. They ran down the fire escape at the opposite end of the corridor, not able to use the lift because they didn't know Oikawa's exact position.

They were out on the street where the crowd of people covered them. Kageyama bent over, panting.  
"Did you- Did- Did you get anything?"  
"There wasn't much. Mostly old military stuff?"  
"Oh, okay-"  
"Some photos of your family- nothing bad, exactly- but..."  
"Yeah, yeah, I know"  
"Also there was a handwritten list," he pulled it out his pocket- "I haven't read it, but it might be something"

Kageyama took the list from Hinata's hands, unsure of what he would see. He read over it, eyes wide, his face colouring-  
"You- you- didn't read this, did-did you?"  
"No"  
"Good. You should know that this- this isn't me."  
"It's stuff he can use against you. Of course it isn't good stuff. I'm actually impressed the file was so thin- anyway, it doesn't matter I didn't see anything."  
"Maybe"

Kageyama still looked distinctly uncomfortable.

"Kageyama. I never looked at your file, but I can promise you mine is worse," he took a breath, unsure if I was ready to share his past. "Did they tell you about my old life, before- before all this?"  
"They told me not to ask"  
"They'd be wise. But I'm going to tell you. Kageyama, I was sixteen. First year of high school, couldn't talk about anything but volleyball." He sighed. "I was supposed to be watching my sister, Natsu. She was only six. I took her out to the park near my house, she was happy, playing on the swings and I was talking to my boyfriend at the time and-"

"Hey, you okay?"  
He nodded.  
"I wasn't paying enough attention. I- I turned around just in time to see a man leave with her. I ran but I wasn't fast enough. Three days later my sister's body was found. I told the police. I told them who it was, a friend of my parents. But- he was smart. He planted evidence. He framed my dad. He-he- got executed."  
"Holy shit" Kageyama whispered

"That wasn't the end. I knew where this guy lived. No one believed me but, I knew. I knew this man had killed my sister and my father. So I planned it, I spent months planning- then I broke into his house and I- I killed him. But I didn't just kill him. I slaughtered him. I slit his throat and I watched the blood drain from him. And you know what?  
I don't regret it. I'd do it again. I'd do it a hundred times over. I regret getting caught. The wrong person witnessed and they liked what they saw. The flawless execution, the lack of evidence. They filmed the whole thing, I didn't even notice. They said they'd turn me over to the police or I could fake my death and train as an assassin. They had connections and they made it no secret that they would make sure I'd be executed if I didn't agree and-well, here I am."

"Oh my fucking God."  
"Aye. But my point is, no matter how many skeletons you've got in the closet, and no doubt you've got them- all assassins do- they aren't as bad as mine."  
"Can I ask one thing?"  
"Shoot."  
"What happened to your mother?"

"Ah. Well, over the course of three months, her daughter had been murdered, her husband wrongfully executed. She'd had to deal with the press, them taking her comments out of context- painting her as a person she wasn't. Then, just as the pain from that started to become more acute, the numbness wearing off- her son went missing. As far as she knew it had happened again. Her son disappeared on his way home from school, never to appear again." He sighed "She went from having a family to being profoundly alone. She overdosed two months after the police called off the search for me. She was institutionalised, and last I heard, still is."

\-----------------------

 _It's remarkably easy to get into a high security building,_ Kageyama thought.

 _Act like you belong. Act like you belong. Act like you belong_.  
He repeated Hinata's words in his mind like a mantra, and honestly, it works. He hid until he saw someone open the door and he walked close enough that they held the door for him. For a place with so much security, it was massively easy to get in, if you looked confident enough. Hinata took the other entrance and they met up on the second floor, having gone up the back stairwells.

"You good?"  
"Aye. Anyone spot you?"  
"Nope.

The nod was answer enough. They walked along the seemly empty floor, and they paused in the stairwell. Hinata stood by the door and Kageyama the landing above.

"How do you know he'll come this way?" Kageyama whispered.  
"I put an out of order sign on the lift."  
"That would work"

They were silent for a long time, far too aware of their own breathing. It was completely silent. And then the door opened. Kageyama held his breath as he watched Hinata swing out from the behind the door, bring down his knife in one fluid motion.

But it's wrong.  
_It's all wrong._

Instead of being hit by the knife, overpowered by Hinata's skill, the man caught his arm as it fell. He plucked the knife out of his hand seemingly effortlessly. He pinned Hinata's arm behind his back and Kageyama watched in horror as he saw Hinata's eyes widen in pain. He wanted it to stop.  
He needed it to stop.

Then he remembered he had his own knife.  
He walked as quietly as possible down the stairs, careful not to draw attention to himself. He watched as the man drew the knife back and plunged it forward into Hinata's stomach, again and again and again.

_Keep calm. You can't help him if you don't keep calm._

He drew back his knife, making eye contact with Hinata as he did. He took a shaky breath and thrust the knife in between the man's shoulder blades. There was a sharp intake of breath and he picked up Hinata and threw him at the opposite wall. Kageyama watched as there was sickening crunch as Hinata slid down the wall into a pool of his own blood.

He turned to face the man.  
"You'll pay for that" he hissed, anger willing him on, pushing and twisting the knife inside the man's gut.  
Then he fell.  
Just like that.  
The man died on Kageyama's shoes.

He closed his eyes, sick forming in his mouth. He'd never killed someone this close up before, never been able to experience the spray of blood that came with their last breath. It was sickening. But he had to steady himself now, he had to go help Hinata.

Hinata was slumped against the wall on the landing below. He ran to him, pushing his hair out his eyes. Hinata looked at him through half closed, unfocused eyes.

"W-well" he paused and took several deep, struggling breaths- "done"  
"Hey, you're going to be okay, you'll be okay"

Hinata's breathing grew more laboured, wheezing with every breath, blood beginning to pool around his lips. He coughed, spraying blood all over Kageyama as he did. His eyelids were drooping, every time he blinked it was for longer and longer and he was clearly straining just to stay conscious.

"No, no, no, no. You keep your eyes open. Look at me. Don't take your eyes off me. Keep your eyes open. You're going to be okay, just don't you dare close your eyes"

He made a sad smile.  
"I love you, Kageyama"

Then he stopped struggling.  
His eyes slid shut.  
He stopped struggling for breath.  
And his face relaxed.  


He slipped further down into his own blood and everything faded to black.

The last thing he saw was Kageyama's face, mouthing something he could no longer hear.

\-----------------

  
Oikawa Tooru was a little later when he arrived in the office that morning. He had no indication that nothing was wrong as he struggled with the keys in one hand, a coffee in the other. When the door opened, his eyes widened in horror. The room was ransacked, files everywhere, pieces of confidential paper littering the floor.

 _Someone's been in here._  
_They were looking for something_.

The his eyes fell on the black folder that lay half open. The black folder that contained all the details of the Asahi and Nishinoya situation. The thing that could get him jailed if it got out in the public eye. It was completely corrupt, but he had to- for Iwaizumi. But to an outsider's eye, it was even worse.

 _Whoever it was, they found it, they know. That's what they were looking for- it must be._  
What do I do?  
I don't know who it was.

Then his eyes fell on a phone that sat on his desk. It wasn't his phone, and if he was lucky, it might just be the person who was in here before.

He picked it up, hands shaking. He turned it on, and then he saw the lock screen.

_Hinata. Hinata Shouyou._

_What the fuck do I do now?_


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!! So thanks for reading this far, it really means a lot. But I've realised that the amount of comments and kudos I'm getting on each chapter is significantly decreasing with each update. And hey, I don't know if it's cause everyone has already left kudos and is still reading- but it's kinda disheartening to spend ages on a chapter then to get 200+ hits and three kudos.
> 
> If my writing sucks, constructive criticism is always cool, and if you are enjoying this just a nice comment will make me blush for days.
> 
> End of whiny fanfic author rant---

Nishinoya picked up the phone.

"Hey" he said, voice gruff with sleep.  
"Um- I'm going to have to cancel our date tonight-" Asahi sounded nervous, and Noya could tell that he was red in the face just from his voice.  
"Oh, what happened?" He hated the fact that the concern in his voice was genuine, the fact that he is pained by the way he hears his boyfriend's voice break.

But no, that's not it. Because he's not his boyfriend at all. It's an assassination attempt. They aren't really dating. _You wish you were._

"I, I need to check on my friend. I got a weird phone call and now I can't contact him."  
"I'll come with you"

\----------------

Noya turned up at Asahi's apartment earlier than he had invited himself to be, but it's didn't matter. They _were_ officially dating, after all. He opened the door with his long hair messy from sleep and a toothbrush hanging out his mouth. He wore an oversized T-shirt over boxer shorts, allowing Noya to fully admire the bulky muscles on his legs.

"Yuu?" He said, voice distorted by the toothbrush.  
"That's me"  
"Ah, just let me-" he walked over to the kitchen sink and spat out the toothpaste- "Get dressed"

Nishinoya nodded, and sat down on the sofa. Asahi smiled and headed back into the bedroom. He knew that whilst Asahi had just woken up, distracted with getting dressed- it was his best shot so far at an assassination. But he didn't want to do it. He didn't want Asahi to die. He wished more than anything that this was an honest relationship, that he would head back into his bedroom and kiss him, over and over again.

Then they'd got out on a date and the restaurant wouldn't go on fire, definitely not. There would be a romantic meal by candlelight and once they had finished the would go walk through the park past the river, maybe they would feed the ducks if they were still out at night, and they'd go to a flower shop if it was still open too. They would head back to Asahi's apartment and maybe, if it went well, maybe he would stay the night.

He wished it was like that.  
He wished with every fibre of his being it could be like that.  
Wished he could lie against his muscular stomach, wrapped in Asahi's arms, not a care in the world except maybe the one aunt that didn't approve of his 'choices'.

_But maybe it could be. Maybe we could move away together and grow old together in peace. But what's to say he feels the same way about me? Maybe he would just agree and kill me later. But honestly, it would be an honour to be killed by him._

He emerged from his room, dressed in jeans and a hoodie.  
"Hey, you ready to go?"  
"Yeah"

Noya made a grab for his hand as they walked down the street, hoping that Asahi couldn't actually feel his racing pulse through his hand. _He's holding my hand. He's holding my hand.  
Does he mean to hold my hand? Is he doing it out of choice, or because he's keeping up appearances? Please let him feel the same way. Please._

"You look a little nervous" Noya said, "you okay?"  
"I will be, it's just- well, we're good friends him and I, we speak almost everyday. I haven't heard from him in days, and well, I'm worried"  
"Maybe he broke his phone?"  
"Maybe"

Ennoshita Chikara lived in a small house in the suburbs of Tokyo. He was far enough out from the city that he lived in a house not an apartment, but close enough that he could get into the city centre in under a half hour on the train. Asahi rung the doorbell and Noya took a step back for his privacy.

Asahi peered in through the letterbox, view a dark empty hallway as he did.  
"Hey! Chikara! It's me, open up!"

Silence.

Nishinoya looked at the way Asahi's face fell further with every second that passed. He fished a hand into his jacket pocket and brought out a key. He out it in the lock and the door swung open. He smiled at Asahi's amazed expression.

"It's a master key. Opens any lock made between 1954 and 2007. Don't look so surprised. I have connections and things like this come in useful."

They both enter the house and it's completely dark inside. There's an abandoned air about the place and though neither mentions it, they both know it's there.  
There's no one here.

"It's clean," Asahi said, breaking the silence in the house, "Way too clean"  
"I don't see why that's a problem, so he cleaned the place-"  
"You don't understand. Chikara never cleaned. Something awful happened here."

The lights in the house turn on using a timer, and it was silent enough that they could hear the gentle hiss of the electric lighting.

"Come on, we'll look in the kitchen,"

Noya lead a silent Asahi into the kitchen, flipping the light switch as they went in.

"See anything?"  
"There's a note on the table"

Asahi walked slowly over to the table, opening the folding piece of paper. His face was white as he opened it up, whiter still as he read it. He put the note down on the table and ran to the sink,

"I'm going to be sick"

Nishinoya picked up the note on the table and read it.  
It was written in a hurry, a sprawling script, spelling mistakes and ink blots scattered over it. And it was, without doubt, a suicide note.

When he looked up, he saw Asahi hunched over on the floor sobbing. He was trying not to, he could see that much. He was crouched on the balls of his feet, hands out the ground. And he cried. Big raking sobs that shook his whole body. Noya stood behind him, unsure what to do or say.

"If you're going to kill me" Asahi said, almost spitting, voice breaking- "Now would be a good time"

Noya felt slightly guilty that assassination hadn't even crossed his mind. That was why he was here after all, the only reason he knew him. Despite how he wished it wasn't, his sole role in the relationship was to kill him. But he wasn't going to kill him right now, not as he wept on the kitchen floor over his dead friend. And as time went by, he was pretty sure he wasn't going to kill him, now or ever.

He didn't want him dead, all he wanted was for him to stop crying. He sat behind Asahi and wrapped his arms round him. He rested his head on his hulk of a boyfriend's shoulder and whispered reassurances to him.

"Hey, let it out" he said, wiping the tears of his face, "you'll feel better afterwards"

Asahi turned slightly, intwining his fingers in Yuu's. "I know you don't care, but thanks"  
"You'll never believe me, but I do love you"

He pretended he didn't see the blush creeping across Asahi's face. He wrapped his arms round him, tighter than before.

"I know you aren't okay, but I'm here. And when it starts getting better, I'll still be here" Asahi nodded, "Just sit here okay, I'll put on some tea and then I'll call the police and I'll deal with the whole thing- just sit tight, okay?"

He turned on the kettle and got two mugs out the cupboard. Whilst the water boiled, he pulled Asahi to his feet, and led him into the living room. He sat him down on the sofa and held him against him.

He heard the kettle turning off, and he got up to make the tea. He felt a grip on his arm and he turned to see Asahi's tear stained face.  
"Please, don't go"  
Yuu made a sad smile, "Okay"

They sat together on the sofa, they didn't speak. But Noya's presence was enough. They were intwined in each other's arms and despite the situation, the fact Yuu had just got off the call with the police. Reporting a suicide was hardly a happy thing, but here, in each other's arms- Yuu was, for want of a better word, happy.

Somewhere along the way, they had stopped pretending that the relationship was a real one. They both knew and had accepted the terms of the relationship. It was just the way it was. A fake relationship on all sides, but they would continue to play along until one of them was dead.

Then he'd fallen in love with Asahi. Fallen head first, hurtling toward him. But it wasn't like a normal crush, not like he could just confess his feelings. His confession would never be believed, and if Asahi felt the same, he could never know if that was his true feelings or not.

In short, he was fucked.

 

But with Asahi in his arms, he was okay with that.

_Fucked._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed that. I wasn't sure if maybe I should out triggers on that, cause well.  
> Please comment/kudos because that makes me happy and I seek validation from you.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this update is really over-due... School started and I had general shit going on then I decided that my writing was shit and so was my story and I shouldn't update...
> 
> Here's the next chapter.   
> This chapter is because someone commented and said that kuroken was good so this is for them, basically.

Kenma felt sick. So did Akaashi, but they weren't showing it. Akaashi distracted himself by reading and rereading information they had on Oikawa even though he knew the chance of it coming in useful was slim to none. Kenma distracted himself by hacking things. Simple things to keep his skills up, banks, government databases, nothing with bad intentions and he made sure he caused no harm. Afterward he coded more lines for his laptop, further encrypting to software only he knew how to crack.

"Kenma," he heard Akaashi say from behind him, "Do you think we should look at the footage?"  
"No. Absolutely not." Kenma didn't even look up from the laptop, and he was just as worried as Akaashi, but they both knew what looking at the footage meant. It meant Kuroo and Bokuto weren't coming home. It meant they were trying to find out what had happened because their boyfriends couldn't tell them.  
"It's been hours, Kenma. And I- I'm worried,"  
"That makes two of us"

Akaashi looked down at his feet and sighed.

"We haven't heard from them since they arrived at the building, I'm worried. I had a bad feeling about this whole thing, assassins, we're in way out of our depth. I- I don't think all four of us will survive this."  
"Akaashi, look at me," he held his friends face in his hand- "We all know the risks of what we're doing- no one is forcing us, unlike the assassins we are watching. I'm sick with worry too, Kuro and Bokuto would be the same for us. But I don't think were ready to watch the footage yet. It's too soon."

"Alright"

As if on cue, they heard familiar voices and keys in the hall. Kenma let go of a breath he didn't know he had been holding, and as soon as the door opened Kuroo was in his arms, and Kenma didn't think he would ever let him go. There were tears running down his face and Kenma buried his face in his boyfriends chest.

"I love you, Kuro"

Kuro winced.

"I love you too, but hey, Kenma, I think I've broken my arm or something and you're killing me"  
"Ah, Shit, Sorry Kuro"  
"S'Okay- but have we got any painkillers?"  
"Uh, yeah- they'll be in the medicine cabinet, but I need you to take your shirt off so I can see your arm."

Kuro sat down obediently, and tried not to move or flinch whilst Kenma touched his arm. Kenma gently tapped the injured shoulder, and he felt Kuroo tense under his touch.

"Yeah, you've dislocated it, but I don't think you broke anything"  
"Can you fix it?"  
"Can I fix it? It doesn't work like that, you're best bet is definitely going to a hospital, they can check there isn't anything broken-"  
"I said, can you fix it?" Kuroo interrupted, repeating himself.

"I'm not a qualified doctor-"  
"Cause you flunked out, 'discipline issues' they said. You were top of the class, Kenma"  
"Yes, I can do it"  
"Good"  
"-though if you were so determined not to see a doctor, I don't know why you didn't just get Bokuto to do it"

"He didn't want to. Plus, you have a little more experience, no?"  
"I guess"  
  
Kuroo was lain down on the sofa, a cushion under his arm. Kenma instructed Akkashi to bring through all the painkillers in the cupboard. He read the labels, looking for the strongest he could find. He popped four of the strongest into a cup, then two more weaker ones.

"Kenma," Akaashi said, uncertain- "I'm pretty sure you aren't supposed to take this many, isn't it dangerous?'  
"No more so than me fixing his shoulder, this amount won't kill him just this once- the pain could"  
"What?!" Kuroo raised his head from the folded jacket serving as a pillow- eyes wide having just caught the last sentence.  
"No, no, no, no. It won't kill you, but you could very well pass out. You're okay" and he planted a kiss on Kuro's forehead.

Bokuto brought a glass of water and handed it to Kuroo, pressing the cup of pills into his other hand. Kuroo took the six pills In one swallow, and sank down into the sofa.

"If I'd known you were going to make all this fuss, I'd have done it myself"  
"It's good you didn't. You wouldn't be able to handle the pain"  
"Hey, hey, hey, I'm a world class spy-"  
"-who cries when he stubs his toe" Kenma finished.  
"Beside the point" and the Kuroo found himself laughing, and once he'd started he couldn't stop.

Kenma checked his watch, and saw that the pain relief should have kicked in.  
"Okay, just hold as still as you can for me"  
  
Kenma grasped Kuroo's arm and pulled it, and he watched as Kuroo tried to flinch away or scream. He face was screwed up and the sweat forming in his brow was visible. There was a audible sound and then Kuroo's face relaxed.

"You alright there, bro?" Bokuto said  
"Better now, still hurts like hell though"

Kenma made a sling out of an old sheet, and tied it at the back of his boyfriend's neck. He wrapped his arms around his waist and pulled Kuroo against him. He pressed his lips against Kuro's neck, and he felt the way Kuro's muscles relaxed as he touched them. He tightened his hold, pulling himself even closer. Planting kisses all over Kuro's neck and cheek.

"I love you"  
"I love you, too"

\---------------

Kenma opened his eyes. It was still dark, and when he checked his phone he found it was three minutes past three in the morning. There was no noise, no lights. There was no reason for him to have woken up. Until he looked over at Kuroo on the other side of the bed. Kuroo was sitting upright, completely still, silent tears running down his face. His eyes were wide, unblinking.

Kenma rolled onto his side, propping himself up on his elbow.  
"Hey Kuro," he stroked his face, "What's wrong?"

Kuroo just shut his eyes, as if he was in pain.  
"Is it your arm? Do you need more painkillers?"  
"No"

Kuroo's face was blank, still, and it scared Kenma more than anything.  
"Kuro"

Kuroo sighed and he sank into the mattress. "There was someone else, Kenma. We weren't alone." Kenma wrapped his arms around Kuroo. He didn't speak, but his presence willed Kuroo on.  
"There was someone else in Oikawa's office before us. He was looking through files, but not for the same stuff. He was good, but not good enough. He left evidence. And he heard us coming, must have thought we were Oikawa. But he bolted. And he left his phone behind."

"Okay?"

"Kenma. He left his phone behind, alongside god knows what other evidence, me and Bo didn't. He will take the blame for what we did, and he'll end up dead."

"It's not your fault"

"It is. It's completely my fault. I could have taken his phone myself, I could have hidden what he did. But I didn't. I didn't because I needed them not to look further into what happened. I... I was careless, I forgot to cover my footsteps. I let him, someone I don't know, unknowingly take the fall for me."

Kenma shuffled a little closer to his boyfriend, wishing more than anything that he knew what to say, to do. He wished he could take the broken look off his face.

"I just wish I knew who he was, you know? I wish I could warn him, give him time to run"

"I could look at the footage tomorrow- to find his face, then I'd maybe be able to run it through a database and find out who he is"

Kuroo turned toward him, a spark returned to his eye.

"Tomorrow will be too late. He has hours, not days"

"Should I do it now?"

Kuroo nodded.  
"Thank you"

\-------------------

Kenma watched the footage three times through, holding Kuroo's hand as he did. He noticed the way Kuroo tensed at the sight of the person and he gave Kuroo's hand a squeeze.  
He took four screenshots, the ones where his face was clearest.

He did some basic hacking to access a low level government database. Information on everyone, everywhere. He ran through each photo, no results each time. He bit his lip. If he didn't show up on this database, either the hoot wasn't clear enough or he had been removed from it. It was more likely that he had been hidden away, maybe an assassin. Probably an assassin, given the circumstances.

There's a few higher levels of codes to break through, but within the hour he had a new database up on the screen, and he ran through the first two photos.  
Nothing.  
He ran through the third and it came up with one match, and he didn't need to ask if it was him. The way Kuroo's face paled at the word 'missing' next to the photo told him everything he needed to know.

They needed to find Hinata Shouyou.  
Hinata Shouyou, who was probably dead by now. 


End file.
